Masha Gessen, a Russian and American journalist, is the author of the bestselling book, "The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin." An outspoken activist, Masha undergoes great risk to write truthfully about the current cultural and political climate in Russia. There is simply no one else brave enough to tell her astonishing story. This event will NOT be recorded so don't miss it!

* Presentation of Global Leadership Award to Ambassador Richard Swett FAIA, Co-Founder and CEO of Climate Prosperity Enterprise Solutions and former U.S. Ambassador to Denmark & Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett, President of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice

Masha Gessen is a journalist and the author of many books, including Perfect Rigor, Blood Matters, Ester and Ruzya, Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot, The Brothers: The Road to an American Tragedy, and most recently, Where the Jews Aren’t: The Sad and Absurd Story of Birobidzhan, Russia’s Jewish Autonomous Region. Her next book, The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia will be published this fall.

As a journalist living in Moscow, Gessen experienced the rise of Vladimir Putin firsthand. In her 2012 bestselling book The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin, she gave the chilling account of how a low-level, small-minded KGB operative ascended to the Russian presidency and, in an astonishingly short time, destroyed years of progress and made his country once more a threat to her own people and to the world.

Now, Gessen regularly contributes to The New York Times, The New Yorker,The Washington Post, Harper’s, The New York Review of Books,Vanity Fair, and Slate, among other publications. She lives in New York.

We are proud to continue our partnership with the Portsmouth Public Library this spring. World Affairs at the Library will continue with two speakers over the next two months. Please REGISTER in advance!

On Sunday, May 7 at 12:30 PM, we'll host Stephen Kinzer, an award-winning foreign correspondent for 20 years at the New York Times. Since leaving the Times, Kinzer has taught journalism, political science, and international relations at Northwestern University and Boston University. He will speak about the history of American imperialism and intervention in global issues.

Wrapping up the series on Wednesday, June 7 at 7 PM will be Mary Thompson-Jones speaking about international diplomacy. Thompson-Jones is a professor at Northeastern University and previously was a career diplomat and served in embassies and consulates in Madrid, Prague, Quebec, Guatemala, and Sarajevo.

Congratulations, Elyse!

Congratulations to Elyse, our Education Program Coordinator, and her family on the birth of a son, Reid, last week. Both mom and baby are healthy and happy! Elyse will return from her leave at the end of July.

Milford High School Competes at National Academic WorldQuest Competition in D.C.

Our Council was well-represented last weekend by Milford High School at the World Affairs Councils of America’s Carlos and Malú Alvarez 2017 Academic WorldQuest National Competition in Washington, D.C.

The team faced stiff competition at the 15th annual competition, held at the National Press Club on Saturday, April 29, from 46 other teams from across the country. While the Milford students didn’t win the top prize, the students learned a lot during the competition and their visit to the U.S. Institute of Peace the day before, where USIP President Nancy Lindborg welcomed the students.

“We congratulate these student teams – and all Academic WorldQuest participants – for their dedicated efforts to apply themselves at this pivotal moment in history to make sense of the world,” said WACA President Bill Clifford.

The competition is based on 10 topics and students are quizzed on 10 questions for each topic. The 2017 topics included: Current Events, Great Decisions, Peace and Conflict in Today’s World, Combatting Infectious Disease, European Union, Countering Violent Extremism, Turkey, Global Megacities, China, and Women in Technology.

International Visitor Program Alumnus to Lead Lithuanian Political Party; More Visitors Coming Soon!

We are excited to share that a former visitor to New Hampshire via the International Visitor Leadership Program & Global Ties U.S., Gintautas Paluckas,was just elected as the leader of Lithuania's largest political party! You may have met Paluckas, previously Vice-Mayor of Vilnius, at our April reception at Orr & Reno.

As part of our Crossroads International Film & Discussion series, we showed a film about Syrian refugees escaping Egypt last week with speakers Bill Gillett, International Institute of New England Chairman (far right), and Abdul Wakil Al Abash, a Syrian refugee (second from left). Amadou Hamady, Manchester Site Director for IINE, is pictured on the left and Council Executive Director Anna Berry is second from right.

Pictured: A recent International Visitors Leadership Program delegation visited northern New Hampshire. The visitors- from Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, and Angola- were here to learn about combating wildlife trafficking. They met with NH Fish and Game and rode the tram to the top of (frozen!) Cannon Mountain.

Jennifer Harris, co-author of "War by Other Means," closed out our spring Global Tipping Points series on April 13. Stay tuned for details about our fall programs!

Community Events Calendar

MANAL AL-SHARIF:DARING TO DRIVE

Presented by The Music Hall in partnership with the World Affairs Council of NH & NH Women's Foundation

Thursday, June 15 at 7 PM - The Music Hall Loft, Portsmouth

Providing a rare glimpse into the day-to-day life of the typical Saudi woman, Manal tells the remarkable story of how she became the accidental leader of the Women2Drive movement; and brought global attention to her country’s tyrannical male guardianship system and its oppression of women.